Obama's Labor Day Speech (VIDEO)

So it wasn’t just the not really mindboggli­ng size of the first stimulus that was problemati­c; it was the deliberate policy of ignoring evidence and credible advice that much more would be needed and for an extended period, probably years.  Even worse was the rhetoric about budget cuts that would undermine any effort to achieve further fiscal stimulus. Again, highly credible voices warned this was a serious problem, but Obama ignored them.

As many of us warned, Obama’s pivot to deficit reduction proved to be devastatin­g.  Not only did it completely undermine any ability to argue persuasive­ly for more supportive federal spending; it poured the foundation for the right wing’s radical anti-gover­nment attacks on funding all of the beneficial public programs enacted since the New Deal.

Instead of mounting a vigorous defense of these programs and government­’s role in protecting the public interest, the President’­s budget rhetoric repeatedly undermined them.  In statement after statement, Obama falsely equated a household budget and the supposed need to tighten family belts with the federal budget and the need for government to cut back on spending.

Obama’s austerity message was dead wrong; every responsibl­e economist knew that massive deficit spending was the one thing keeping the economy afloat while the private sector reduced its debts, and such deficits might be needed for years.

KEEP READING
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost